Loading...Many bloggers after using Google’s free blogging service, “Blogger”, opt to migrate to WordPress. WordPress allows better control over the content and is highly customizable. WordPress by default provides the option to import a blog from Blogger. It is very easy and can be accomplished by a few button clicks; that’s it. But in some hostings, an error is encountered due to the lack of secure connection. In such cases, the content should be first exported from and then imported to WordPress. This process can take a bit longer but works perfectly for everyone.
Some shared hostings block outgoing HTTPS from their shared hosts. They can’t ensure secure connection with Google(Blogger) due to which the request for importing the content is denied. This usually doesn’t happen in dedicated hosting plans or VPS hostings but can be a problem for shared hosting. When you try to import through the blogger plugin in WordPress, you might get a message similar to this,
Could not connect to https://www.google.com
There was a problem opening a secure connection to Google. This is what went wrong:
Unable to find the socket transport “ssl” – did you forget to enable it when you configured PHP? (4)
Thank you for creating with WordPress. | Documentation | Feedback
Version 3.0.1
Or you might also get this message:
There was a problem opening a secure connection to Google. This is what went wrong:
Connection timed out (110)
You’ll first need to export the content from your Blogger blog and then import it to WordPress. In your blogger account, go to the settings page for the blog you want to export. Now, you’ll see a “Export Blog” option. Now, click the big “Download Blog” button and download your full blog as an XML file.
Now this Blogger XML file can’t be imported outright to WordPress. WordPress needs a special WXR file to import any content. So, first you need to convert the downloaded XML file to a WXR file. A very handy utility hosted by Google Apps Engine can convert your legacy Blogger Atom exports contained in a XML file, into WordPress WXR export files. Just upload the XML file and click the “Convert” button. After a while, your WXR file will be ready for download.
Now head over to your WordPress admin. Click Import from the “Tools” menu. Choose the “RSS” import option. Now select the WXR file converted in the above step and click “Upload and Import” button. After a few seconds, your Blogger blog with all its content will be imported.
This is a fail-safe alternate method to import Blogger to WordPress and works even if your server blocks secure HTTPS connection to import content from Blogger. Don’t upload the same file twice by mistake or you’ll wound up with a duplicate for all your posts.